


Smile

by UselessReptileWrites



Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Food mention, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-02
Updated: 2018-07-02
Packaged: 2019-05-31 12:22:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15119321
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UselessReptileWrites/pseuds/UselessReptileWrites
Summary: Toothless practices smiling, and Hiccup gets a small scare from his best friend.





	Smile

**Author's Note:**

  * For [dillonmahoney](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=dillonmahoney).



> Written for dillonmahoney on Tumblr.

Toothless sat on the shore of the lake, staring into his reflection.

_Now how was it supposed to look again?_  He figured if that wingless child insisted on spending time around him, he might as well put some effort into making sure he didn’t scare him away, especially since he provided the dragon’s only source of food now that he was flightless. 

The thing was that water wasn’t good for holding images, and he’d only done that facial expression once. So now he had to sit there staring into the water and trying to figure out how to do it again based on an incomplete, wobbling reflection and an equally clear memory of how it felt. 

He squinted into the water. If only it would stop rippling for one second! 

_No, the left corner’s a bit too low… Why are winglesses so weird? This is more of a snarl, but they take it as greetings?_  He considered the stories he’d heard of their brutality and love of battle and killing.  _Oh, of course._

He heard something at the rim of the cove that was his hiding place, his trap. He stopped for a moment and twitched an ear. It sounded like footsteps, too heavy to be a boar or deer.

Then he heard the wingless child call out the name he’d given him. He felt himself relax, his wings drifting into a more calm, loose, nonthreatening posture. 

The boy continued to speak, using the word for that thing he kept tying to his back and then sitting on. Whatever had happened with it had made him excited. 

As the child climbed down into the cove, Toothless turned to see him. The wingless was still tense, as if any minute he might turn on him, but if Toothless wanted to fly again they had to play nice. And that meant showing that he meant no harm in a way he would understand. 

Once he was sure the boy was close enough to see, Toothless forced his mouth back into the smile. 

Instead of returning the gesture or relaxing, the boy stopped in his tracks. Those spots of his seemed to stand out more as he took a step backward like he meant to retreat.

_Why is he so tense?_  Toothless asked himself. He glanced at the pond with that smile, trying to see what he was doing wrong. He saw flashes of color in the water, the black of his scales, the green of his eyes, the white of his teeth-

Oh.

_I should’ve remembered to retract my teeth,_  he thought.


End file.
